Honoring her mother's last wish, Lane Channing vows to follow her dreams. She takes the 'big risk' and leaves her small Kansas town behind and heads to LA, the city of dreams. She's got a stellar job lined up, an old jeep, and 20 bucks to last her to her first paycheck. Her hopes shatter when she arrives to find her job's been given to someone else. Now she's broke and will soon be living on the streets if she doesn't do something fast. Welcome to cutthroat - Lane is most certainly not in Kansas anymore.

On the cusp of success...

Dillon MacAvoy has one goal–to become a star--whatever it takes. Even if it means honing his bad-boy can’t-be-tamed-and-forever-single image. Besides the image isn't far from the truth. Dillon cares only about his younger brother and his career. He's on the brink of superstardom if he can just decide on the next right script. But for that, he needs a script reader he can trust.

In a strange twist of fate...

Lane Channing is Dillon's last chance. If Lane lasts the summer without becoming MacAvoy's latest conquest, she's guaranteed a job in entertainment. No problem, as long as she can ignore the heat that pulses through her every time Dillon is in the room. After all, love and commitment with a sweet, hometown girl would only ruin the Dillon MacAvoy brand.

Excerpt:

My eyes fluttered open. I kicked my foot out from under the comforter on my bed. I’d had trouble falling asleep when I got back to the house. I flipped over my cell phone and glanced at the time—it was 2:07 a.m. and I was wide-awake.

Kong lay curled up on the pillow beside me while Scorsese and Spielberg slept at the foot of my bed. Bernie lay lengthwise beside me like a human. I ran my hand across Bernie’s thick fur. My heart hurt. Last week I’d felt bad for Dillon. I’d felt bad that he was trapped in a horrible place between his parents and his brother. Parents who, from what it sounded like, wouldn’t accept Choo for who he was, but yet still wanted to be a part of Dillon’s life.

But tonight?

Tonight I didn’t feel bad for Dillon. I felt angry and hurt and shocked at how intense all my feelings were. There were two Dillons and I kept ping-ponging between them. There was the guy who’d humiliated me when I was lost and then made me feel embarrassed again tonight. Frustration spiked through my chest as the feeling of embarrassment flooded through me with the two memories.

Then there was the other Dillon. The guy who’d rescued four dogs. The guy who smiled and gave me the keys to his car. The guy who was sexy as hell and seemed interested in what I had to say. That was the Dillon my heart hurt for. That was the Dillon I wanted to know and be around. That Dillon seemed to pop out, be wildly nice, and then immediately disappear. Maybe I was lucky that the sweet version of Dillon wasn’t around more. The jerky version I could work for and ignore.

He wasn’t someone who wanted a relationship. Already, I’d seen him with a multitude of different women. Dillon MacAvoy wanted me to walk his dogs and read his scripts. I brushed a stray hair back from my forehead. Something about Dillon pressed hard against my heart. I was drawn to him. When he’d grabbed my arm tonight, heat had jolted through me. When he’d whispered in my ear, even with the awful words he said, I still couldn’t catch my breath with him so near. I wanted to kiss him. I wanted to feel those giant hands on my body, stroking over me where no one had stroked before.

“Oh, yessss.”

A moan drifted up from the yard. When I’d gotten home, I’d taken two ibuprofen and pulled open my balcony doors before I’d gone to bed. I’d hoped the fresh air would cool my body and my mind.

“Please, yesss.”

My heart clenched and I scrunched my eyes closed. A hard, sick feeling lodged in my belly. The voice was female. There was only one man in this house who could cause a woman to moan like that.

“Yes, please, Dillon. Please.”

I didn’t want to hear this. I couldn’t stand to hear this. I slid my foot to the floor beneath my bed. I wouldn’t look. Looking would be so bad. I pressed forward across the floor to the balcony doors. I would pull the doors closed and then please, hopefully, I wouldn’t have to hear the things I definitely didn’t want to hear.

I placed my hand on the knob of the door, but instead of pulling the door closed, my body moved forward. My heart accelerated as though it would burst through my ribs. What would I see? My foot stepped out on to the balcony. Every good part of me screamed don’t do it, don’t look down, but every part that was curious had to peer over the balcony. I had to see.

I looked over the edge. The pool lights were on and an aqua glow lit the yard. The girl with the long black hair was bent over the outdoor lounger. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was open. Her tongue flicked over her lips as soft, deep moans flowed from her mouth. Pleasure rushed across her face. She was naked. Barebacked. Her breasts rocked rhythmically and her ink-black hair fell to the side of her face.

Behind her was Dillon. His hands clasped her naked waist with a tight grip. My fingertips covered my mouth. His face was clenched and his head rolled from side to side as he pumped his body into her. The muscles of his chest glistened. His biceps tightened. He threw his head back and opened his eyes.

Our gazes locked. His blue eyes seared through me—I was frozen. I couldn’t move. Heat surged through me while my eyes were anchored to him. Heat that pooled in my belly and between my legs. My heart pounded. The world tilted with the thought that burst into my brain.

I wanted to be that girl.

A growl coursed over his lips as he pumped into her and stared at me. Tingles cascaded over my skin. I wanted Dillon to strain and growl and be inside me. I’d never been any of that to any man, but I wanted to be that for Dillon.

I watched as she moaned and pressed backward. I watched as he thrust hard into her.

“Yes, yes!” the girl yelled.

The sound of her voice broke my trance. I jumped backward into the darkness of my room. I shouldn’t have watched. I shouldn’t want this.

AUTHOR’s FAVORITE QUOTES FROM HARD GLAMOUR

By Maggie Marr

Maybe this summer in Los Angeles was a Big Risk, but I wanted into the world of entertainment. I wanted to make movies. I wanted to live in California. I wanted to feel alive and whole. I wanted so much more than a girl from Kansas should ever want. –Lane Channing

Maggie: I love the above quote because it is so Lane. The quote expresses her excitement and her optimism as well as this fearlessness that resides deep inside her. Even though things have been tough for Lane she still believes in dreams and taking chances.

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I turned off the jets of water and wrapped a towel around my waist, then stepped out of the shower and turned toward the steamed mirror. I wiped it clean and looked into that face of mine. The hard, cold eyes of a man who would never get the chance to love a good girl like Lane Channing stared back. Sometimes I hated that guy. –Dillon MacAvoy

Maggie: I love this quote because it shows who Dillon is in the beginning of the story. He is closed off and he doesn’t even like the guy he’s become and yet he has no idea how to change himself, how to be the guy that deep down he wants to be.

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I was falling in love with Dillon MacAvoy. A love that could never be returned. I could have my summer, I could have him for a while, but the girl that would have him for forever—I knew for certain that girl wouldn’t be me. –Lane Channing

Maggie: This quote is great because Lane won’t stop herself from falling in love with Dillon–actually she can’t stop herself and yet she can’t believe that possibly she is the right girl for him–at least not yet.

___

My heart thudded and my throat thickened. I closed my eyes and licked my lips. I was an asshole. I was a man-whore. I was a guy that used girls and kicked them to the curb and now finally, when I met a girl I couldn’t get out of my system, a girl I wanted to stay, a girl I cared about, I was going to pay for my past sins. –Dillon MacAvoy

Maggie: Again, another quote where Dillon doesn’t like who he was or what he was, but here he is starting to accept that his past actions have repercussions. Here in this quote we see remorse and a desire by Dillon to change so that he won’t ruin his future.

___

“You’ll walk out there to the premiere, you’ll go to the party, and you’ll pretend. You’ll pretend none of this bothers you. You’ll pretend you’re having a great time. You’ll follow Dillon and his team’s lead and you’ll even pretend you aren’t sleeping with him and you aren’t in love. And you’ll do it for his career. For the business.” –Amanda Sterling

Maggie: I LOVE Amanda. She grew up in the entertainment industry and totally gets it. Amanda is giving Lane the truth about being a part of entertainment. About the compromises that Amanda has made in her life and the compromises that she is certain that Lane will have to make and all for a career in an amazing but demanding industry.

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INTERVIEW WITH MAGGIE MARR

Author of Hard Glamour (Glamour Series, #1)

Q: Do you have a routine that you use to get into the right frame of mind to write?

Maggie: I write first thing in the morning. My mind is clear and it’s the best time for me to get my words down. Also, I am trying to send a message to my muse that Writing Is Important by making my writing the first thing I do in my day. Plus, it is so easy with everything else that goes on in a day to not get the writing done if I don’t make it the first thing I do.

Q: Where did you get the idea or inspiration for HARD GLAMOUR?

Maggie: I love the New Adult genre. I’ve lived and worked in Hollywood and written about Hollywood for nearly a decade so when Dillon and Lane started telling me their story it seemed like a natural fit.

Q: What was your favorite part writing this novel? Don’t forget to tell us why. J

Maggie: I love it when the characters start to act on their own and surprise me. This usually starts to happen around page 60 or so. Up to then I am listening to them tell me their story but I kind of know what they are doing and where I *think* they are going to go with it but then all the sudden Wham! The characters are off and they are surprising me with their words and their actions–I love that! I also love to write the sex scenes 🙂

Q: What was the most difficult part writing this novel?

Maggie: How hard Dillon was as a male character in the beginning. He is just so Alpha and in unlikeable and closed off–we start to understand why and see that this is a defense mechanism and how Lane is able to break through those barriers but at first he was a really tough guy to like.

Q: What do you like to do when you are not writing?

Maggie: Read!I love to read! I read all kinds of books truly it is my favorite activity. I also love chasing after the children and yoga.

Q: Any future writing news you would like to share?

Maggie: So many fun things this year! Broken Glamour, book 2 in the Glamour Series publishes March 2014, Fast Glamour, book 3 comes out in May, and finally Easy Glamour, book 4 is set to publish in July.

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Giveaway

About Maggie Marr

Maggie Marr grew up in the Midwest and made the move to Los Angeles to work in the movie business. She was a motion picture literary agent for ICM before becoming a full time writer. She’s written for film and TV and ghostwritten for celebrities. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and children.